The secret to getting children to practice is to realize that you can not make them want to do anything that they do not want to do. Not through bribes, threats, being nice or being angry. Children can not (and really should not) be manipulated.
We must look to the environment
and look at how we can shape their surroundings to nurture their innate ability to want to learn.
Their most important environmental influence is, You!
As the home coach and daily practice helper, your attitude, the way the you approach practice will shape how they approach practice.
Love of fine music and curiosity
If from a genuine sense of curiosity and love of fine music you approach each day’s practice with a smile, a patient and pleasant way of speaking and truly want to learn something about life yourself your child will sense this and learn to do the same.
This will not take place instantly, but over time this can become the way that both parent and child approach musical practice. Through practicing the practice.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Music Technology
A few Web sites for Music Students and Parents
Ricci Adam’s MusicTheory.net
This is a free source of drills and exercises in all of the basics in music theory.
The Ear training is a great addition to this as well.
www.musictheory.net
Printing Staff Paper
To print out your own blank sheet music with various options for staff and layout this is a great site for budding composers who want to score their own music on hard copy!
www.blanksheetmusic.net
Maestro Max’s online resource for parents and students
From Music history and Biography’s to the musician yellow pages this site has a lot of links to things musical!
www.harmonicvision.com
BMP
A fun way to determine the tempo of a piece is to tap out the beats using a digital BPM analyzer! This is really easy to use and will help parents and students set tempos for their practice and performance!
www.all8.com
Suzuki Piano Basics Site
The writings of Dr. Kataoka from newsletters
and lots of Suzuki Resources
http://www.core.ecu.edu/hist/wilburnk/SuzukiPianoBasics/
Online site for finding supplies for Suzuki Piano students
also resources for violin students.
www.Discographyonline.com
Ricci Adam’s MusicTheory.net
This is a free source of drills and exercises in all of the basics in music theory.
The Ear training is a great addition to this as well.
www.musictheory.net
Printing Staff Paper
To print out your own blank sheet music with various options for staff and layout this is a great site for budding composers who want to score their own music on hard copy!
www.blanksheetmusic.net
Maestro Max’s online resource for parents and students
From Music history and Biography’s to the musician yellow pages this site has a lot of links to things musical!
www.harmonicvision.com
BMP
A fun way to determine the tempo of a piece is to tap out the beats using a digital BPM analyzer! This is really easy to use and will help parents and students set tempos for their practice and performance!
www.all8.com
Suzuki Piano Basics Site
The writings of Dr. Kataoka from newsletters
and lots of Suzuki Resources
http://www.core.ecu.edu/hist/wilburnk/SuzukiPianoBasics/
Online site for finding supplies for Suzuki Piano students
also resources for violin students.
www.Discographyonline.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Developing Memory
Pitch Memory through Ear Training
Playing “find the note” increasing from single notes in a one octave C major scale then begin to increase the complexity by adding the black notes to form a one octave chromatic scale. Intervals can then be introduced in one octave and then triads on white keys. Progress into all of the intervals can made by adding the black notes as well in one octave.
The final step
is to expand the C major scale out to two and then three and so on to the whole keyboard and then add in the other steps (ie. Chromatic scale notes, intervals on C major then all intervals, triads on C major scale then all triads.)
How to tips:
With interval practice and triads, students name the notes from the bottom up, training their ears to hear the more difficult lower tones! Young children and older students are all challenged and enjoy this game, especially if they get to test the teacher or parent on the same test after they accomplish several correct answers!
It's ok for young children to learn in an easy way
I have found that with very young children it is fine for them to see where the teacher or parent is playing on the keyboard and then for them to play back what they hear and see. Older students are not allowed to see, but must learn to hear the pitch.
Make a Story
Each piece that the student learns has a structure, book one is mostly ABA format, (ie. Theme A then Theme B then Theme A again) a simple and fun way to build memory associations with these forms is to create characters or labels that can be made into stories for the pieces.
Let's Go to Africa. All children love animals!
For instance: A = Tall Giraffe, B = Hungry Lion, and the piece is a story about how the tall Giraffe is looking out for the Hungry Lion! This is a fun way to engage the imagination and build the ability to memorize musical abstract structures by attaching concrete and fun images to the different sections.
Listen. Listen. Listen
Listening is perhaps the greatest single thing that you as a parent can do to increase your child’s memory, if they have quality music, especially the music that they are going to be working on in the future then they will be building a clear sound image for what they will be playing and learning in the future.
Help Your child develop fine musical memories!
This ability to learn by ear, once it is learned and put into practice will enable them to learn pieces quickly and listen to the examples and modeling done in the lessons with greater clarity and precision. So please play the recordings for your children! Help them to develop fine musical memories!
With Love, Joy, Peace and Hope,
Ben
P.S. Tomorrow we will be looking at Musical Technology to use in practice!
Playing “find the note” increasing from single notes in a one octave C major scale then begin to increase the complexity by adding the black notes to form a one octave chromatic scale. Intervals can then be introduced in one octave and then triads on white keys. Progress into all of the intervals can made by adding the black notes as well in one octave.
The final step
is to expand the C major scale out to two and then three and so on to the whole keyboard and then add in the other steps (ie. Chromatic scale notes, intervals on C major then all intervals, triads on C major scale then all triads.)
How to tips:
With interval practice and triads, students name the notes from the bottom up, training their ears to hear the more difficult lower tones! Young children and older students are all challenged and enjoy this game, especially if they get to test the teacher or parent on the same test after they accomplish several correct answers!
It's ok for young children to learn in an easy way
I have found that with very young children it is fine for them to see where the teacher or parent is playing on the keyboard and then for them to play back what they hear and see. Older students are not allowed to see, but must learn to hear the pitch.
Make a Story
Each piece that the student learns has a structure, book one is mostly ABA format, (ie. Theme A then Theme B then Theme A again) a simple and fun way to build memory associations with these forms is to create characters or labels that can be made into stories for the pieces.
Let's Go to Africa. All children love animals!
For instance: A = Tall Giraffe, B = Hungry Lion, and the piece is a story about how the tall Giraffe is looking out for the Hungry Lion! This is a fun way to engage the imagination and build the ability to memorize musical abstract structures by attaching concrete and fun images to the different sections.
Listen. Listen. Listen
Listening is perhaps the greatest single thing that you as a parent can do to increase your child’s memory, if they have quality music, especially the music that they are going to be working on in the future then they will be building a clear sound image for what they will be playing and learning in the future.
Help Your child develop fine musical memories!
This ability to learn by ear, once it is learned and put into practice will enable them to learn pieces quickly and listen to the examples and modeling done in the lessons with greater clarity and precision. So please play the recordings for your children! Help them to develop fine musical memories!
With Love, Joy, Peace and Hope,
Ben
P.S. Tomorrow we will be looking at Musical Technology to use in practice!
Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK
Due to the MLK Holiday we will be resuming discussion Tuesday.
Let us take a few minutes to remember what MKL Stood for, the progress that has been made, and the areas of improvement that we must speak out, and take action for.
With Joy, Love, Peace and Hope,
Ben
Let us take a few minutes to remember what MKL Stood for, the progress that has been made, and the areas of improvement that we must speak out, and take action for.
With Joy, Love, Peace and Hope,
Ben
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